January 30, 2009

Take no thought for your life.


Matthew 6:25.

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

"A warning which needs to be reiterated is that the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in, will choke all that God puts in. We are never free from the recurring tides of this encroachment. If it does not come on the line of clothes and food, it will come on the line of money or lack of money; of friends or lack of friends; or on the line of difficult circumstances. It is one steady encroachment all the time, and unless we allow the Spirit of God to raise up the standard against it, these things will come in like a flood. “Take no thought for your life.” ‘Be careful about one thing only,’ says our Lord—‘your relationship to Me.’ Common sense shouts loud and says—‘That is absurd, I must consider how I am going to live, I must consider what I am going to eat and drink.’ Jesus says you must not. Beware of allowing the thought that this statement is made by One who does not understand our particular circumstances. Jesus Christ knows our circumstances better than we do, and He says we must not think about these things so as to make them the one concern of our life. Whenever there is competition, be sure that you put your relationship to God first."

One of my friends sent me this and I felt it was extremely challenging/appropriate and a great reminder of just how much the Gospel flies in the face of all logic and common-sense. I hope it encourages you.

* The image above was taken at a dump in the Dominican Republic outside of an extremely wealthy resort area. All of the local resorts would dump their trash and numerous families lived off the leftovers. This boy was no older than 8 or 9 and was digging through the dump to find anything he could sell or trade.

1 comment:

Nathan Mallon said...

"Take no thought for your life." It would be a good chapter title the latest story of my life. :) Thanks for the reminder that He knows me better than me.